Ex-Employee Gets Time for Stealing Nearly $557K from 2 Law Firms, Must Repay $46K

Tearful and apologetic, Paulette Reed was sentenced today to one to three years in prison for stealing a total of $556,756 from two upstate New York law firms and taken from court directly to jail in handcuffs.

She must pay restitution of $46,000, in monthly installments of $400, after she is released, reports the Buffalo News. Although she is technically liable to Lippes Mathias Wexler Friedman of Buffalo and Simpson & Simpson of Williamsville for the full amount she embezzled while working as an office manager and bookkeeper, a prosecutor in the Erie County case told the judge that Reed likely will not be able to pay more than $46,000.

Reed, who is now 44, has worked for four law firms over the past 20 years, the newspaper says. She was at Lippes Mathias from May 2003 to February 2008 and worked from July 2008 to July 2009 at Simpson & Simpson.

She pleaded guilty earlier this year to two counts of second-degree grand larceny.